About Us
Established in 2012 in Aotearoa New Zealand, Link Economics provides rigorous analysis of competition and regulatory issues to a range of clients internationally, including companies, regulators, government entities, and industry associations.
Economists with Real-World Experience
Our team brings together academic knowledge, quantitative skills, and real-world commercial perspectives that we have gained through managerial and governance appointments at infrastructure businesses.
We have an applied understanding of how markets work, and a detailed knowledge of the practical implementation aspects of regulatory design and compliance.
Emma Ihaia
Principal Economist
Based in Whakatū Nelson, Emma Ihaia specialises in competition analysis and regulatory economics, with 25 years of experience in this field.
As a Principal Economist for Link Economics, Emma has been retained as an expert in the context of regulatory investigations and consultations, and has prepared competition assessments for merger clearances, authorisations, and market studies.
She has also provided expert evidence for legal proceedings. Emma has advised clients in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the Pacific Islands.
David de Boer
Principal Economist
David’s focus is regulatory economics and the application of regulatory systems in the real world, especially as these apply to infrastructure entities.
He has advised on regulatory determinations, on the establishment and periodic review of regulatory regimes, on regulatory price setting approaches and on submissions to regulators and government bodies on a range of regulatory matters.
David has also undertaken market studies, advised on mergers, and has published research on regulation and market performance. David is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington.
Sophie Mills
Research Assistant
Sophie has joined us as a research assistant and has been working to support our team in conducting economic analysis for clients, including surveying methodologies for setting efficient network prices, preparing electricity network pricing models, and researching the role of economic analysis in merger assessment.
James Lanigan
Research Assistant
James provides research support for Link Economics projects, including collecting and analysing data.
He has collected and collated detailed information on electricity pricing, analysed financial data from annual reports for competitor analysis, and collected and processed data for telecommunications price comparisons.
Lynda Schmedding
Administration Manager
Based in Canberra in Australia, Lynda has been working as an Executive Assistant and Administration Manager for over 20 years and has a passion for the role.
She started her career in 1991 at the Australian Attorney’s General Department, and then moved to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). She also worked for Concept Economics (and its predecessor economics consultancy organisations) and the Global Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Institute in Canberra.
She has supported several Departmental Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries in the Australia government departments of communications, finance, and parliamentary services.
Associates
Link Economics coordinates with other consultants and academics to assemble a team that best addresses its clients' project requirements.
Dr A. Sathyendran (Sathy)
Cellular Communication Specialist
Sathy is a Cellular Communication Specialist with over twenty five years’ experience in the cellular industry. He has provided advice on:
- Spectrum Policy
- Spectrum auctions,
- Technology strategies and
- Cellular technologies.
Sathy has extensive experience working with both mobile operators and as well as regulators.
Dr. Anthony (Tony) G. Webber
Economist and a Quantitative Modelling Expert
Dr. Anthony (Tony) G. Webber is an economist and a quantitative modelling expert. These skills have led him to be engaged as an expert witness across a variety of court cases. He has held academic positions at the University of New England, the University of Wollongong, the University of NSW, the University of Sydney, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Technology Sydney.
Tony was the chief economist at Qantas from 2004 to 2011 and has operated an aviation research consultancy over the past 12 years.